


with a tiny bit of shame and a whole lot of courage

by bastapasta



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts Second Year, One Shot, Slice of Life, awkward teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 23:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bastapasta/pseuds/bastapasta
Summary: In her second year, Hermione gets her periods for the first time, and it’s pretty much the end of the world. With Harry and Ron being by her side when it happens, it might even be the end of the universe, no exaggeration!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	with a tiny bit of shame and a whole lot of courage

**Author's Note:**

> english isn't my first language, and i really like the headcanon of harry being mixed and hermione black, so please imagine them this way! also have no clue how periods are being taken care of in this universe so if it's not pads, uuh... just pretend.
> 
> (i do not support rowling)

Boys are weird, Hermione thought, watching Ron attempting to stack up as much potatoes in his mouth that hung open comically wide, while Harry was almost falling off his seat from laughing at the sight. She still wasn’t sure why she chose to be friend with those two. Well. There was that one time last year where they saved her from a troll. That should be a good enough deed for her to turn a blind eye to how childish and gross they could be at time.

But could she ignore Dean and Seamus playing a game where the goal was trying to slap the other without being hit yourself which for some reason made them giggle like that was the funniest thing, or the twins seeming to communicate by look alone which judging by their expressions she doubted was anything good, and not remind them all they were at dinner and they should be minding their manners? At least Neville was decent.

She sighed, crushing the potatoes in her plate.

"Are you ok?" asked Neville, definitively the only decent boy around.

"Yeah, just a bit tired is all!" she replied with a smile, grateful for his concern.

"You didn’t eat much..."

"Well…" she started "I don’t seem to have an appetite tonight."

He nodded gravely, seeming to understand perfectly. Hermione could guess why. The boy had a nervous nature, and felt very sick before certain classes. One teacher in particular was to blame for that.

She didn’t add much else in her belly before leaving for the common room.

That night Hermione had the hardest time falling asleep. Kept tossing around, remembering upsetting things, and at some point her body finally decided to feel hunger, which really wasn’t the time. When her eyes closed for good it wasn’t many hours before morning, so of course she woke up with the loveliest mood!

And that wasn’t the worst thing, when she noticed the biggest zit right on the tip of her nose. The army of spots on her forehead, she could deal with. But right there in the middle of her face?! That was just rude!

She wondered if there was a spell to annihilate the unwanted pimples. Certainly someone had to have come up with a solution for this problem!

Breakfast wasn’t great either. She was hungry, and yet. Everything she munched on just gave her the need to throw up. Swallowing was a battle Hermione wasn’t so sure she wanted to win. But like a brave soldier (she hadn’t be put in this house for no reason after all), she didn’t give up the fight.

It was in disturbing conditions that Hermione sat down for the first class of the day. With a mental note to go to the infirmary if she didn’t feel better in a few hours, she grabbed her quill and tried to take notes.

All went fairly well for part of the day. Her stomach had calmed down and the only symptom left was a slight headache she could mostly ignore. That was, of course, before charm class.

Focusing on the teacher words and taking notes had long since been second nature to her. And she was proud of that ability giving her the opportunity to have a regular school day even when she was sick. But it clearly had limits, as it failed her just then.

Turns out a passive activity could work out well but as soon as you make it physical suddenly the house of cards that formed the image of the diligent student came crashing down.

Anyway, Hermione Granger failed an easy spell, and she was so embarrassed about it she started crying in the middle of the class.

No, she did not want to talk about it.

But Ron clearly did, making jokes about how everything was possible today, and she had been this close of stabbing him with something.

He was the worst, sometimes. Harry, at least, had patted her shoulder, making a weird face that probably meant something but she didn’t have the energy to find out what. Most likely just his awkward way of letting her know it was ok. And she knew mistakes had to happen sometimes, plus she had a good excuse as to why she was so out of it today, but still, Hermione was frustrated.

It was such an easy spell! Ugh!

At least there was professor Lockhart’s class, the thought alone cheering her up. But that day was definitively cursed, the proof of that in an accident with the creatures he had chosen to present them. Humbled by her own mistake earlier, Hermione felt sympathy she meant to convey to her teacher. Just to make sure he knew these type of things could literally happen to anyone, and to not let one mishap weight him down. But she had failed to count on her so-called friends to stomp on her efforts by making fun of him. How boorish!

Hermione was definitively rethinking her choice of friends.

"That was honestly so funny! His face! I’ll never forget it!" said Ron after class.

"Yeah, the man is a joke!" followed Harry, and Hermione couldn’t take it anymore.

"Professor Lockhart is trying his best to educate us! I don’t see either of you putting half as much effort studying for his class! Or any other, really."

"Ouuuh!" said Ron in a very mature way.

"I mean, I do study sometimes..." tried Harry.

"Yeah! We can’t all be like you, nose always in books! We happen to have a life." finished Ron with a satisfied smile on his face.

Hermione knew she couldn’t say anything to that. Or more like, she could, but they wouldn’t listen. Having already decided they had won this argument. Another time, she might have tried. But she was too tired for that today.

"Where are you going?" asked Harry, brows furrowed.

"Well, the library." she said with a bored tone. To that she could have added ‘duh’ because it really was a dumb question.

Ron laughed. For way too long. Even bending over, arms holding his stomach. Hermione looked at him with vague curiosity. What could have possibly made him laugh that hard this time.

"Of COURSE, the library! Where else?!" he finally filled them in.

"… we have homework to do."

"Yeah and we got time for that!"

"It doesn’t hurt to start early!"

"Seriously Hermione, you’re so boring." he said with a sigh.

It didn’t hurt.

She glared at them both (even if Harry hadn’t say anything)(perhaps because he hadn’t) before turning and leaving them here.

It didn’t hurt, it didn’t hurt, it didn’t hurt.

Why would she care if they found her boring, and annoying, and all together unpleasant to be around? She didn’t care! At all!

Shy steps followed her, and she tried real hard not to care about it. They could go their own way and do whatever they wanted. Not in the mood for homework? Well no one forced them to! They could just see how it goes once the teacher ask them for it and they have nothing to give. And if they chased her crying for help, that wasn’t her problem. No, she would not help anymore! If that made them angry and they decided to call her mean, and a bad friend, and refused to talk to her because of it, well… fine!

She didn’t care, as she chose a table. She didn’t care, as she put down her bag. She didn’t care, as she saw them sit there when she left to find some books. And she still definitively didn’t care when she got back to the table and Harry looked at her with sorry eyes while Ron was staring at the ground.

There was silence. Which was the correct way to go in the library. But still. It was awkward.

And this time, Hermione had her nose literally in books, too scared to look up at them again. She knew she had a temper, and that wasn’t really attractive. And she did try not to fall for her anger, really she did! But Ron could get to her so easily and…

And.

She was scared, really. Because he wasn’t wrong. She was boring.

And one day they’ll both get tired of her, wondering why they even bothered in the first place, throwing her out of the group like an old holey sock.

She could barely retain what she was reading. The words were dancing on the page, some trembling, few bending together. A black mass with no meaning. Hermione sighed, forehead pressing in her palm. Which was warm. Maybe she really was sick.

Something else was warm.

And… wet?!

No. She couldn’t… no. Sometimes accidents happened if you laughed too hard, but that couldn’t be what was happening right now. That made no sense. No, she couldn’t have.

Harry and Ron were murmuring to each other, maybe about their work, she couldn’t tell. It was hard to pay attention to anything else. Something shifted in the world. No sound could get to her. Her sight was getting blurry. All her senses seemed affected. Even time itself decided to stop working and take a nap right there.

She didn’t know what was happening, which was very distressing, because Hermione liked being in the known. A life of ignorance wasn’t made for her. There was peace in information, and safety. She didn’t feel safe right now.

"Hermione?!"

Harry’s eyes were huge. She could tell from all the white surrounding his green, even if everything about him was vague at the moment.

Oh, she was crying.

And shaking.

Sensations were coming back. That’s one good thing. But also bad. Because she could now tell what was happening between her legs.

"I’m bleeding."

That statement was enough to put the boys in a frenzy. Harry’s mouth hung open while his hands gestured wildly in the air, unsure of what to do with them. Ron, as always, didn’t bother to think before he got up with enough force for his chair to fall on the ground and Hermione didn’t even flinch at the sound. His hands soon found her shoulders, and he helped her getting up.

"Are you hurt?!" screamed Ron, forgetting they were in the library.

"No, it’s..." she started, unable to finish the thought. At least aloud.

So she signed to Ron to get closer, whispering in his ear.

Ron nodded before putting all her stuff back in her bag, and Harry copied him without being asked for it. They left the books on the table though, but Hermione wasn’t in a state to scold them for it.

They walked her to the infirmary. Harry often glancing at Hermione, worry in his eyes.

She hadn’t stopped crying, after all. Tears falling off her face slowly, as she kept on staring at the ground. It was mortifying.

Hermione knew they had arrived by the surprised sound madam Pomfrey made. She must have thought it was weird that the problem was with her and not Harry this time. Before she had time to ask, Ron explained the situation.

"She has her period thing. Uh. For the first time, I think."

Harry gasped at that, and Hermione closed her eyes, hard. He had to say it in the most embarrassing way, of course.

Madam Pomfrey asked the boys to wait outside while grabbing her arm in such a soft way Hermione barely felt it.

Left next to a bed she didn’t have the courage to sit on because the possibility of leaving a stain on the white sheets would taint her memories with embarrassment she could never wash away, she waited for the nurse’s return.

It wasn’t long until she was back, and Hermione distracted herself by wiping her tears away, while the woman used a cleaning spell on her.

"Do you know how to use a pad?" she then asked, barely above a murmur.

Hermione only nodded. Her mom had shown her how a while ago. She just hadn’t thought it would be useful so early.

The nurse offered her a smile and the pad, before leaving the space around the bed delimited by curtains that she closed behind her.

She had been given a full package of the stuff before leaving the infirmary, that she promptly put in her bag so no one would see her holding it, and some advice on the whole thing. Madam Pomfrey made her promise to come back to her if she had any question, and to feel free to talk to her about that or anything else. Hermione was grateful, of course, but what she needed right now was to run away and hide.

That wish was destroyed a second later by the two boys that actually stood there, waiting the whole time. She wasn’t sure she could look at them in the eyes. This was the worst day by far.

"So, are you ok now?" asked Ron, a bit too genuine. She thought he would be awkward or choose to make fun of her. That was weird.

"Um, yeah..."

"Good." he started "If you, uh..." then scratched his head "if it ever happen suddenly again, you can count on us, yeah?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, both confused and slightly scared. One, because he wasn’t sure how he got to be part of the promise, and if he’ll be more useful next time. The other, because she hadn’t expected that, and now her emotions were a mess. Well, even more than before.

"Thanks?" she said finally.

Ron nodded "Mom told me about it at the same time as Ginny so I could help her if there was any problem." he smiled now "I guess that makes it one more girl I’ve got to worry about! Ah, la la! I’m so busy!"

Harry laughed softly and even Hermione felt a bit lighter. Ron’s enthusiasm could be contagious.

They started walking in front, acting like something messy and embarrassing never happened, and Hermione could feel her heartbeat going faster as well as her face growing hot. She was so relieved and…

Happy.

Feeling brave (but still a bit bashful) she walked faster to get to their level and extended her hands to grab theirs. The boys looked at her for just a second before leaving more space between them so Hermione could be comfortable and she felt both her hands being squeezed at the same time. They talked about silly, unimportant things all the way to the common room.

Maybe Hermione had the best friends ever.


End file.
